At the online JEC Innovation Awards ceremony held on May 13, Arkema won two partner awards for two major innovations in thermoplastic composites in aerospace and railway applications.
High-performance welding technology for aircraft parts
Arkema and Soudure Group (Institut de Soudure Group), in collaboration with Hexcel, Latecoere and Stelia Aerospace, won the 2020 JEC Aerospace Innovation Award for their innovative solution technology for thermoplastic composite welding (ISW). The solution was jointly developed and patented by the Soudure Group Research Institute and Arkema. They are welding technology experts and specialty polymer experts, respectively, providing very high-performance welding for aerospace thermoplastic composite components. The new process first targets PEKK / carbon composite materials used in aerospace structures and can be used to weld any carbon fiber, glass fiber or aramid fiber reinforced thermoplastic.
In the next few years, the development of aerospace thermoplastic composites is a huge opportunity, but in order to improve cost efficiency, thermoplastic composite parts need to be assembled by welding rather than riveting. Innovative welding innovation solution technology relies on the development of a robust process for new dynamic induction welding heads, which enables composite components to meet the high performance goals set by OEMs and aerospace parts manufacturers.
The innovation process has outstanding advantages:
-Compared with the reference composite material, the welded joint coefficient is about 85%,
-Reduce post operations,
– reduce weight,
-Dynamic and fully automatic / monitored solutions,
-Use recyclable thermoplastic materials
-Since only local heating is required, energy consumption is low.
Arkema is a strategic partner for the development of aerospace thermoplastic composites, Hexcel, which provides high-performance carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic (PEKK) materials for high-quality welding targeted by the ISW process. Since the beginning of 2019, it has conducted some feasibility studies with major aviation operators such as Stelia Aerospace and Latecoere to evaluate the ISW solution.
Starting in 2020, Arkema ’s main goal is to increase the maturity of the technology and apply it to specific aviation projects to enable it to obtain aviation certification in the future.
Future trains will use lightweight and recyclable materials
The second prize is the "2020 Public Award" awarded by 25,000 voters. The winner is the Destiny Project of Stratiforme Industries. With nearly 60 years of experience, Stratiforme Industries has developed a thermoplastic composite train carriage based on Arkema Elium® resin.
Since the traditional products in this field are thermosetting composite materials, they will be difficult to recycle at the end of their service life. Therefore, the development, manufacturing and certification of thermoplastic composite products that meet railway specifications are a real revolution in the industry. It allows the product to be recovered at the end of its useful life at a reasonable cost. To date, thermoplastic composite materials are rarely used in structural parts.
Stratiforme Industries ’operations and construction railway customers include French National Railways, Paris Mass Transit, Belgian National Railways, Deutsche Bahn, Alstom, Bombardier, Siemens, Railway Construction and Assistance Corporation, and Polish PESA. This innovation was carried out by Arkema in cooperation with STELIA Aerospace, ASMA, CANOE platform, Crépim and Douai National Advanced Industrial Technology and Mining School.